WMi ■■■'"&% 'Zi '-'->'7 'A w,. >. 7'' ■7. 7'. '.^v/3. V, 9,V> ■;f H.%. a %%■, {''■.7'.■■•,:74^,7//.% . r. 'Z " 1 k^flk -9^.. ?< 'V '> *>> ’,'9> w Backyard> . ■ S,. ,f IF■<' % y/w.M-Z'Zi yw''W&i&s. -. ’ into the '--1 Future f > feastsy- ;-,/7' 'Z'7'6 /'~‘f>- '" '//, ■' ■ft Wyfi&y .1- ff.7/,- MINICON,.. 19! April 1, and-a 2, and-a 3,1983 Pro Guest of Honor Larry Niven Fan Guests of Honor Pamela (Dean) and David Dyer'Bennet Artist Guest of Honor Dave Sim Musician Guest of Honor Spider John Koerner Proxy Guest of Honor Nostradamus (who knew it all along) Toastmaster Steven K. Zoltan Brust Join us, dear friends, as we back, Back, BACK our way into the future at Minicon 19! Jumpshift your way to thrills and excitement! Go native, go Aardvark! Sing "Acres of Clams" at the top of your vocal apparatus! We hope you're really sick of exclamation points! cj(» Cover art by Ken Fletcher and David Egge. © 1983 Minnesota Science Fiction Society, Inc. Registration Hours are: Friday 9 AM - 9 PM Saturday 10 AM - 7 PM Registration will be located in the cloak/h^ room just off the escalators on the lower level where most programming will be. When registration is closed, pre-registrations can be picked up at room 114 (The Bridge). T-Shirts Once again we bring you a great selection of Minicon memorabilia: Minicon T-shirts, featuring the work of Artist Guest of Honor Dave Sim (see illo); MORE Min icon 19 T-shirts with artwork by Laramie Sasseville and Deborah Kilian Larson; Maturity by Theodore Sturgeon; Spi ndi zzy, a comedy record by Shockwave; frisbees, and more. Stop by the Sales table near registration between Noon and 7 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, or 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, and trade some of your filthy lucre MINICON for a nice clean T-shirt. Concert Gnus Don’t miss the Spider John Koerner concert Saturday night at 9:30 p.m. in Wabasha North. This is good-time music at its best, folk and blues embroidered with Spider John’s distinctive guitar sound and warm voice. (Read Spider Robinson’s introduction lo the man else­ where in the program book.) Policies & Other Good Things to Know 1. In case of emergency contact any committee member or call room 114 (committee head­ quarters . 2. Anyone carrying an alcoholic beverage in the hotel lobby or public function areas that was not purchased from the hotel is endangering the hotel's liquor license and may be subject to arrest. Please do not visit these areas while carrying open beer or wine bottles. 3. Please do not bring glass containers of any sort into the pool area. We are allowed use of the pool past its usual operating hours. Treat it nicely. 4. Hotel check-out time on Sunday has been extended to 5 P»m. A Word To The Wise The legal age for drinking alcohol in the state of Minnesota is 19 years old. It is illegal to serve alcohol to anyone under that age. Other lawful psychoactive substances include caffeine, tobacco, and sugar. The Minicon committee will not condone any use of illegal substances. Con Suite What can we say about the consulte? It's in room 2022, the McKnight Suite. For all you fishy people, there's also a consuite-by-the-pool . Check the schedule for hours. 4 Weapons Policy Our weapons policy remains unchanged from last year. 1. Edged weapons are allowed but must be handled re­ sponsibly. Irresponsible handling of any weapon is dangerous and may be grounds for ejection from the convention. 2. No real-looking guns. The plexiglass, light-emitting "zap guns" generally do not "look real" to us. 3. Lasers are permitted if they belong to Class one or Class two as defined by the Bureau of Radiological Heal th. 4. In order to avoid disturbing our cetacean members, no Nukes J11 Peace-bonding, as practiced by the Society for Creative Anachronists, is recommended for edged weapons. It is the practice of tying a blade into the sheath with twine or a ribbon. This prevents others from drawing your blade and reduces the temptation to draw it your­ self in locations and situations where it is not appro­ priate. (Remember, "If you kill it, you eat it.") 5 Artshow & Auctions Operating I ns truet ions: 1- Come in. Look around. Enjoy. Buy things. 2. Oh, you want to know how to buy things. All right. A) Each piece of art has a Bid Sheet attached to it, with room for your name and bid to be written on it. Write your name and bid on it. Make sure your bid is at least as much as the minimum bid of the artwork. (Remember, a written bid is a contract to buy the art — unless you are out-bid, the art is yoursl Please don't bid on anything unless you intend to pay for it.) B) If you real 1y want the art, and don’t want to take the chance of somebody out-bidding you (horrors!), there is often a Quick Sale Price listed on the Bid Sheet. Pay that, and the art is yours (that is, if nobody has already bid on it, in which case you have it out in the Auction). Auctions and How They Work: 1. Any piece of art which receives two or more written bids is declared Fine Art, and goes to the Voice Auction. The first person to recognize the work’s sterling qualities and bid on it has the honor of choosing which Auction it will be sold in. A) If you don’t tell us which Auction you want the art in, we’ll tell you, 2. If no one else has the good taste to recognize the obvious value of a work of art on which you’ve bid, and yours is the only bid at the time of the specified Auction, the piece is yours for the written bid. 6 Do’s and Do Not Do's: Things you do: Ogle; Drool (at a discreet distance from the artwork); Spend lots of money; Bring friends; Have them spend money, too; Curb young children. Things you don't: Smoke; Bring cameras or large bags into the Artshow (we can watch them for you at the front table); Handle the Artwork; Buy Artwork for minimum bid after the last Auction. ****FANTASTIC OPPORTUNITY!**** Can you walk? Can you write legibly and fairly quickly? Do you have an overwhelming need to get up in front of large groups of people? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you’re just the person we’re looking for. Come be a Runner at the Art Auction! We'll even provide instruction at no extra charge. Apply at the Art Show during open hours, Friday or Saturday. (Please, we prefer people at least 1^ years old.) Art Show and Auction times are: Fri day 1 PM 5 PM (check-in and set-up only) 5 PM 8 PM Saturday 10 AM 7 PM 11 PM ? (Auction) Sunday 10 AM 11 AM 12 Noon - ? (Auction) Special thanks to Rusty Heyel in, who is running this year's art auctions. Pro Guest of Honor: Larry Niven by Don Bailey I first met Larry Niven at Minicon 7 in 1973. (You remember 3973, the year we’re going to hold a worldcon?) I remember a pleasant, brown-haired man who seemed to be having a good time. Shortly after­ wards, I began reading his works (I RS take note: SF cons really are a business expense), and soon declared him to be my favorite writer. Anyone who would name a planet "We-made-it" is my kind of person. In 1976, I had an opportunity to move to California and observe Larry in his native habitat. I found him to be a quiet man who enjoys sharing interesting ideas with people. I also found him to be a very good poker pl ayer. If you have never read anything by Larry Niven, you have a lot of good reading ahead. From the spec­ tacle of Ringworld to the predicaments of Svetz the time traveller, Larry consistantly creates plausible cultures, creatures, and contraptions. Even his magicians seem too realistic to be considered "fan­ tasy." Larry’s sense of humor tends toward logical in­ congruities, word play, and writing people into stories. His novel, The Flying Sorcerers, co-written with David Gerrold, is great fun for any long-time SF reader because of the many author references in a plot which has a modern, scientific, space traveller encounter a primitive society and a very jealous wi tchdoctor. 8 continued page 10 RING WORLD... THE MOTE IN GOD’S EYE... LUCIFER’S HAMMER... DREAM PARK... RINGWORLD ENGINEERS... NOW THE FATE OF THE WORLD HANGS BY A THREAD— THE K DESCENT .g LARRY NIVEN & STEVEN RARNES SL ®TOR ISBN: 48-542-5 WE RE PART OF THE FUTURE. Larry Niven continued One of Larry’s more remarkable talents is his ability to collaborate with others. It takes a special blend of assertiveness and attention to coordinate such efforts without a lot of friction. To date, Larry has co-authored seven different novels, the latest being Oath of Fealty, with Jerry Pournelle, and Descent of Anansi, with Steve Barnes. Some writers use the same character types repeat­ edly, and their personality comes through quite strongly. With Larry, it’s not so obvious.